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Can not turn off Windows Defender (Tools is disabled)

Question

Hi, I'd like to turn off Windows Defender since I'm planning to install another antivirus. Yet the Tools menu in Windows Defender cannot be clicked; in fact only the Home menu is available for clicking (which doesn't help at all since I'm already at the
Home screen). The only possible action at the Home screen is clicking on the Update button. I've also read others who have similar situation (unable to choose the Tools menu) but I haven't found a solution to it. So how do I turn off Windows Defender (or enabling
the Tools menu)?

FYI, I'm running Win7 HP-64bit. The computer's brand new and has never connected to the Internet. I wonder if I must somehow connect to the Internet first before I can disable Windows Defender, perhaps:
- after updating WinDefender (by clicking on the Update button) then the Tools menu will be available, or
- WinUpdate needs to be enabled first also?, or
- the computer needs to be registered/activated first? (it's brand new and comes with the OS; and the System Properties say the OS has been activated), or
- this sounds stupid: upgrade to Win7 Prof just for disabling Windows Defender.

First time I turned on the laptop, I uninstalled several software that comes from the manufacturer. One possibly related software I uninstalled was McAfee AV. It asked me for activation and since I cannot connect the laptop yet to the Internet thus I never
do any kind of registration/activation (see previous post).

So now I am thinking whether I should've disabled/removed Windows Defender first before I uninstalled that McAfee AV. Oh well, I already partitioned my HD and made other changes and the restore utility doesn't allow me to restore to a particular partition.
I doubt there is a way to create an OS CD from the restore partition, isn't it? perhaps I could do a Windows system repair by booting from the CD like in WinXP?

Open Windows Defender by clicking the Start button , clicking All Programs, and then clicking Windows Defender.

Click Tools, and then click Options.
Under Administrator options, select or clear the Use Windows Defender check box, and then click Save. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

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